Project: ESCAPE
by Dr. Robert
Summary: 9 strangers wake up somewhere where none of them have ever been. No way out, no idea where they are. Can they escape? Chapter 6, up. Read this, people!
1. Breathe

**Project: ESCAPE**

Yes, I am back. No, I did not die or go to camp, or anything. I was thinking of what to do with Taking A Step Back. Then it hit me. "There's nothing to do!" Why steal an idea when you can make your own? This is a project written by me and my great bud (not on this site) "Donkey Kong". Hope you all enjoy!

The scent of acrid black smoke woke up one unconscious man. He was expecting to see the pleasant sites of his bedroom, but instead saw what appeared to be a burning beach. Looking around, he noticed several people still knocked unconscious from their trip to this forgotten place. Only one man was already up. He seemed to be wearing ragged clothes, and "the man" felt very uncomfortable about him. Still, he was the only one up, and it was better to talk to a stranger then nobody.

"Hey" said the man, "What's going on? How did we get here?"

"No time to explain!" yelled the ragged one. "We have a bad situation! It's going to rain FIRE in just a little bit, and all these people are unconscious! They'll die if we don't help them!"

Puzzled, the man said, "Fire? How do know?"

"It smells like smoke now, right?

"Right"

"You don't see smoke, right?"

"Right"

"Well, it's all up there!"

The ragged one was pointing to the sky, and sure enough, the clouds were smoking. This was enough to convince the man, and he helped to push all of the people into safety. It was too late, though, as fire started to hail from the sky. Not slowly, but large fireballs going as fast as rain. It was now a matter of skill to save everyone.

"How are we going to save any of them?" said the man.

The ragged one thought, and then exclaimed, "I made a rope net while you were all asleep!"

"YOU WHAT?" screamed the man. "How did you make a net when we were sleeping? How long have you been here?

"You think I kept track of the hours, boy?"

The Man shrugged this off and just decided to throw the net. "You sure this is big enough to catch all of them? The man still wasn't sure about the ragged one. "No," he clammy said. It'll take a couple of tries. Some might die, and some might live. Just try to get them all!

The netting was harder then it seemed, and the man managed to only get one. The ragged one, on the other hand, seemed to have been practicing back home, as he got 2 or 3 _every_ time the tossed it. The man was impressed, and embarrassed. He made it look so easy. He'll have to learn from him someday.

It was soon evening. Everyone was awake, but not at all lively. No one seemed to know each other, as no one tried to start a conversation. The man always hated silence, and decided to ask people if they knew how they got here. As he expected, no one knew.

"This silence can not go on forever," the man said. "We are all alone, 9 of us on a place we have no clue how we reached, possibly thousands of miles from civilization. Why us? We need to find out soon!"

"Shut up, kid, and sit down," exclaimed one of the people angrily. He seemed to be ill-tempered, as he had quite a volatile expression on his face. Since he was physically superior to the man, he decided not to quip back and just sit down. The tall man stood up.

"You don't have to state the obvious. Now, what we need to do is find out exactly where we are," explained the angered man.

"But," started the silenced man, "that's what I was say--…" Before he could finish his statement, the angered man had already drawn a switch-blade from his front pocket and had positioned it right up against the other man's throat.

"Violence will get us nowhere!" said the ragged one. "Spare him. He saved your life out there." Grumbling, the tall one sat down, menacingly sharpening his blade. "I guess it's my turn to speak now." The ragged one said. "We must work as a team to survive on this place. Dividing and Conquering will suffer consequences. Now, how about we open the floor to each of you for suggestions." The rugged man pointed to the man to start. "Hi, my name is Mario. I already explained my idea, as it is to find out where on the map we are. Survival is necessary, of course. That's all, really. No point in searching this place. You, next to me, what do you say?"

The man that stood up also had ragged clothes, and wore a strange headband. "Hey, my name is Luigi. I say we explore the island. There may be people, radios, anything to get us home. A rescue plane might come, but we must find supplies! We have nothing!"

The violent person from before stood up, his eyes looking for another victim. "My name's Wario. We need to do what the "ass" said. Find out where we are. We'll know the closest place to go if we escape. Much better then that freak's idea of searching the island. We might even find anything! Thought of that?"

The fact that this man is wearing a fine suit caught the eyes of everyone ('cept Wario, he just wanted to punch him in the face). "I'm Quizmo. Chuck Quizmo. My idea is to just survive off of what's near us. I've done that several times in my life, and it's not hard, really. A rescue plane will come soon, and we'll all come out safe and sound!"

A punk looking man stood up, stereotypically tall and lanky. "I'm Waluigi !" I say we build a raft and just ditch this place We'll hit land eventually, and then we're home free! No waiting, no risk. Just nice soft sailing.

A semi-computer nerd was next, looking scared from sitting next to a punk rocker. "Hello. I'm Bill, the Toad, but everyone calls me "Toad" . Don't know why. Anyway, I go with surviving off of what we have. I calculated it to be the least risky of them all. Finding out where we are could discourage us, exploring the island could lead to death, and the raft thing is just plain stupid! Just go with surviving!"

Toad was so enthusiastic in talking that he forgot to sit down. A half hour passed before the next person talked. The guy obviously wasn't an intellectual. "I'm Niel, the Boo…. I wanna go on the raft. They will take us away. Rafts are fun, too!

The last person, and everyone was finally releaved to have finished. His defining mark seemed to be his pants. He wore a kilt pattern on it, and it felt like a combination of suede and polyester. If there was a fashion police, he'd get a death sentence. "Hello, I am Kooper, . I'm gonna go with exploring the island. For all we know, there could be banquets, boats, everything, and we are stuck here! What could go wrong?

After this thought, the ragged man was distraught. "An equal split. WHAT DID I SAY? We all have to agree! Geez! We'll do this again tomorrow!"

Mario was shocked by his outburst. He was relatively calm during their talk. "Wait," Mario said. "You never told us about you!" Thinking for a moment, the ragged man finally told everyone. "Just call me Kelvin. I want to get the hell of this place as fast as possible!"

And with that one comment, the discussion was ended. Until tomorrow, this group might not ever cooperate like Kelvin planned.

"Well," started Chuck, "I say that we all get some sleep." He expected a flurry of agreement such as "Yeah" and "Good Point!" but half of the people were already asleep!

Wario reached for his blade. "You…might want to sit down now," said Kelvin. With that, Chuck sat down, and went to rest, along with the rest of the people. And, with that, the first day had ended…


	2. Where We Are

**_PROJECT_** **_ESCAPE:_** CHAPTER TWO

The sun slowly rose over the jagged hills far in the distance. As it positioned itself higher and higher in the sky, several of the inhabitants awoke from their slumber, after a night of mystery, confusion, and slight turmoil. With caution, the islanders slowly started to comb the beach, looking for any possible indication of where they might be.

"I'm hungry…"declared Bill. Though they heard him, he received no answers…only questionable looks. Bill turned around and headed back over to where the remnants of the campfire where.

"You know," started Kelvin, "I heard that those smoldering clouds where caused by a viscous dragon that lives in a volcano not too far from here."

"Yeah?" questioned Wario.

"Indeed," replied Kelvin.

All of a sudden, the ground started to rumble. At first it was a light tremor…but it quickly grew into a violent throttle. The islanders all huddled together, fearing what could happen. Then, something started to appear from over near the inland.

"Look! Over there," Kooper, "something's coming out of the ground!"

The islanders snagged through a miniature vineyard of exotic trees and bushes. They finally reached their point of destination. Rising out of the ground was a tiki-like pillar with strange faces carved into it. It finally stopped jetting out at about sixty feet.

"Dare we go near it?" asked Chuck.

"Pffft…I'll go," retortedWario. He approached the pillar without any hesitation whatsoever. He knocked…no…He _pounded_ on the pillar forcefully. "Hello? Anyone in there?" he jokingly shouted.

"Remove your hands from my surface, you worthless, born-and-raised-on-the-wrong-side-of-the-tracks meat puppet," answered the pillar.

"Why I ought to smash you to grains!" replied Wario, and with that he whipped out his signature switch-blade. He started violently slashing at the pillar, but to no avail. After about a minute and a half of ruthless slashing, Wario returned the blade to his front pocket and walked away. "You ain't worth my time," he scoffed.

"I would like to welcome you to the land of Syntarr. What brings you here?" asks the pillar.

"We honestly have no idea whatsoever," answered Luigi. "In fact, I wish I knew!"

"Listen," started Mario, "We awoke yesterday to find ourselves on this uninhabited island, and…"

"Uninhabited?" interrupted the pillar, "Oh dear me, this island is most definitely filled with creatures of numerous species."

"Well," continued Mario, "We'd just like to know how we can return to our normal lives at home. I was gonna have a date!

You will be able to carry out any events that may occur during your stay here at Syntarr," replied the pillar, "For your see, Syntarr exists in what is known as the 4½ dimension. You all originated from the 4th dimension. Time moves so much faster here than in your dimension, that…a day spent here would only equal a few minutes back in your time. Understand?" There was no answer. The pillar sighed. "In order to return to your dimension, you must locate the **Treasure of Syntarr** and bring it to me. It is an incredibly beautiful golden pearl encased in a mighty transparent diamond. But heed my warning…do not mistake it for the **Punishment of Pershima**, a seemingly identical jewel that bares only a slight difference…This difference being weight…The Treasure of Syntarr is heavier than the Punishment of Pershima. REMEMBER THAT!"  
With that, the pillar sank back into the ground and the islanders dispersed.

"Sorry, everyone, but I am confused. How did we manage to travel a half a dimension without out knowledge?"Kooper. "This is something off of the Sci-Fi Channel. "Well, at least we know where we are," said Mario. "half a dimension away from home. I bet Peach will never buy this excuse….."

"You know, I was never able to trust talking tikis," Lugi thought aloud. "Perhaps this is all a mind game to confuse us. I doubt that what he says is true. "Mario ….." Waluigi said, "A tiki just _talked_ to us! I doubt we are in our dimension! Luigi considered it, but still belived they were somewhere in their own world. To prove it, he decided to take one "lucky" person with him to the untamed jungle. After the two left, the rest had another group conference.

"OK, we know where we are, now. We don't need the raft. Let's all just work on surviving! Until we know exactly when this Treasure of Syntarr is, we must stay right here!" The majority of the group agreed, but a few still had some questions.

"Why don't we still build a raft to see what is in this fourth dimension?" asked Bill. After a brief pause, Wario remarked, "Good idea. How about we kill everyone who's not on the raft to be fair?" Dejected, Bill sat down quietly. "How about searching the jungle for weapons, like Luigi and Chuck are doing right now?" questioned Mario. "I had my suspicions on Luigi. He never believes anything we say, I think he might betray us some time later! He's just gonna lead us into a trap, just like he's doing to Chuck!" remarks Kelvin. "Is there any way to stop him?" asked Kooper. "We'll devise a plan to stop the menace. Until now, just pretend what he says. Last question. You, Niel?" Niel thought for a while, and thoughtfully asked, "Where are we?" Kelvin didn't bother answering, as Niel will just not really understand. The conference ended with everyone seeing Kelvin as the leader, Mario his first mate. Kelvin always liked being on top, and now was his chance to shine.

"We better turn back, Luigi. It's getting dark" sighed Chuck. It had been a long day marching across what seemed to be an ordinary rainforest. He at first actually believed the 4 ½ dimension, but after this walk, he seemed to side with Luigi. "Tell me, Luigi" questions Chuck. "Of all the other 8 people, why did you pick me?" "You're the only one with a gun, Chuck," repo said casually. "Incase we saw something, well, not good, we could stop it."

Chuck noticed Luigi had an exceptionally good eye, even noticing that Chuck's contacts fell off. He felt Luigi as the leader, unlike the newfound feelings for Kelvin back at "home". "You know," he says, "You and I would make a great team. No matter what, We shall have each other's back. Deal?"

Before Luigi could answer, he tripped on what appeared to be a huge piece of wood. When Chuck helped him up, however, he realized the wood was obviously carved. A sign of human existence? No one could live long here, so they had no risk of tribe war. "Luigi, this wood looks like an arrow!" It appeared to be a sign to something. The duo had to find out where it lead to, but it was knocked down when they saw it, so obviously, the arrow was bupkis. "My god, Chuck. Look what it says on the back!" yells Luigi. As he indicated, the back indeed said what the arrow was leading it too. "Oh, boy," gulped Chuck, "We can't let the others see _this…_it'll be our little secret…For NO ONE's eyes but ours."


	3. It's raining again

**Chapter 3**

I am not sure if anyone will die yet. Perhaps one or two will.If not, other things (pretty bad) might happen to them.

The moon had fallen from the sky to take it's 12 hour rest when the sun has shown it's face. Mario had just woken up, still seeing no signs of Luigi and Chuck. Now he was worried. Perhaps they were hurt? Or maybe Kelvin was right! His mind raced with thoughts of what could have possibly happened to the two. He need not think long, though, as 20 seconds later, the two arrived, unharmed.

"Hey," questioned Mario, "Where have you been?" Chuck and Luigi just told the truth (with their findings omitted from them) "We were just in the jungle, trying to find things!" said Luigi. "All we found was enough papayas and mangoes to last us two lifetimes. Unfortunatley our hands and pockets were big enough to bring a weeks supply. We can show you where found the rest, and……RUN!"

Chuck and Luigi both looked up to find smoking clouds, an obvious sign of raining fire. They didn't need to bother waking everyone up. Chuck's scream did just that. By the time the last person (Wario) got up, it was already raining fire. The problem now was that a wall of fire blocked the jungle entry, the only safe place they know about!

"WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO?" yelled Wario. The group didn't know, and had to think about it (which was terrible for them since no one could think and walk at the same time). Finally, Kelvin calmly said, "I remember take a walk down the beach yesterday to find several holes. If we jump into the holes, I think we'll be safe!" Everyone was a bit cautious until Mario, with a mixture of bravery and stupidity, jumps in. Seeing Mario unharmed, the rest jump in some holes. "See? Told ya!" bragged Kelvin. From then on, no one doubted "the leader".

As quickly as the fire started, it died down. The group was shocked to discover there was no remains of the fire. Everything was as pristine as before the fire. The only one not shocked about it was Mario, who saw it happen before. Not only that, he was hungry, too. "You said you brought food?" whimpered Mario. "Oh, yes. We brought the motherload!" Chuck proudly stated. Even the food looked fresh even after the fire. Nobody cared, though. They ate the whole weeks supply in 3 minutes flat. "Oy, were gonna have to get more food." Groaned Luigi. "Oh, yes, and can you bring back some dessert? I got a bad sweet tooth…" said a rather pompus Niel. Everyone has taken to ignoring Niel's talk. It just confused them more then they are now.

Chuck and Luigi headed back into the jungle in search of food. To their astonishment, nearly all of the food they had seen before was gone!

"What happened to all of the food!" asked Chuck in disbelief.

"I'm not so certain…It looks like it was eaten…" replied Luigi. Suddenly, they heard a thumping noise and felt a slight rumble.

"Is it raining fire again!" asked Chuck.

"I don't think so," replied Luigi.

Out of a nearby patch of shrubs came a tiny creature. It looked very innocent. It's head was completely round, with cartoon-like eyes, viscously sharp teeth, and a small body. It had a rather long tail with a bulbous sphere at the end of it.

"Aw…doesn't look like it can do us any harm…" said Chuck.

Then, following the tiny little creature came a much larger creature. It looked the same as the small one, but it's color was faded and it's teeth were jagged. It had a very short tail. It laid it's eyes down upon Chucl and Luigi with a ravenous and lethal glare. If either Chuck or Luigi were to move, this creature was sure to pounce upon them and tear them to shreds.  
Fortunately, out of nowhere, a lion-like creature leaped out from behind Chuck and Luigi and started to attack the enormous creature. Taking advantage of the miraculous moment, Luigi and Chuck ran back to the campsite.

The islanders noticed the two stumbling back. They also noticed that they had no food with them.

"Where is the food?" asked Waluigi.

Heavily panting, Luigi replied, "There…There is no…no more food left on this...part of the island…we…we…we are not alone…"


	4. If You Can't Stand the Heat

It's been almost 2 years since I updated this. 2 years. Most of my readers might have left or something, I don't know. What I do know is that I want to finish this story. It's a great story, and I've got quite a few chapters backlogged from some time ago. So, enjoy.

CHAPTER FOUR

By now it was evening. The moon shown bright in the sky; its beams of light shining down upon the ocean's water, casting a magnificent reflection. The islanders had dined on some lobsters and other aquatic creatures that had crawled upon the beach and were finely cooked over the bonfire.

"Alright, listen up," said Kelvin. He stood up as if to give a speech, but he noticed that most of the islanders were already asleep. With this, he coughed slightly, stood back, covered his ears, and let out an ear-piercing girl-like scream. Immediately, everyone awoke. "Good," he continued, "Now that I have your attention, we must act quickly. I highly doubt that those creatures that attacked Quizmo and Luigi were the only ones on the island. For the creatures not to have approached Quizmo and Luigi when they first voyaged to get some nourishment means that they most be moving in closer and closer to our location as time goes on. If we don't act quickly, they will soon ambush us and devour us all. We must relocate ourselves to another part of the island." The islanders started to bolt crazily in all directions. "Halt!" commanded Kelvin, "We must journey together. I say we traverse in the direction of the volcano, since we can't go through the jungle until the wildfires stop, and the only way to make them stop is to kill the dragon who is causing them!"

"How in the hell are we supposed to do that? We have no weapons…all we have is fish! What are we supposed to do? FLOUNDER IT TO DEATH?!" complained Wario.

"Well, YOU have a weapon. Maybe YOU should fight it," replied Kooper.

"There is one more matter we must discuss…It would appear that Neil has gone missing. I last saw him going after Quizmo and Luigi during their first solo voyage into the jungle," stated Kelvin.

"We never saw him," replied Chuck Quizmo.

"We must keep an eye out for him as we journey to the volcanic region of the island. At any point, if it starts raining fire, head for shelter," said Kelvin. The pack agreed, and drifted off into a quick slumber.

As dawn broke out, the team went off to where the volcano is. Lead by Gogeta (of course), they seemed to make pretty good progress. Of course, nothing good ever happens to any of these people, and another rain of fire broke out about a quarter way through the journey.

"What are we supposed to do now?" said Waluigi, "We're trapped here! These fires are gonna burn the whole place down!"

Kelvin only laughed at Waluigi. "Remember how everything went back to normal after the fire? That's what's gonna happen here! All we have to do is find shelter…." Obviously, no plants would make do of their shelter. After several close calls, Mario found a small cave. No one refused the opportunity of surviving, and a quick dash to the cave might have saved their lives. Until, that is, Quizmo noticed something.

"Oh my god!" he yelled, "That cute little animal we found! WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE!" Only Luigi and Quizmo knew what kind of danger they were in, and ran out of the oven and into the frying pan (almost literally). No one else knew why Luigi and Quizmo were afraid of such a small animal, and stayed there. Luigi and Mr. Chuck Quizmo were dodging the fire almost supermanly, refusing to go even 100 ft. close to the cave. The fired died down eventually, and the two ran to see if anything remained of their friends.

"You think anyone's alive?" asked Luigt.

"Of course not, the big one must have torn them all into 3 pieces." replied Mr. Patch.

Once the two entered the cave, they were shocked to see……they were all perfectly fine! "Um…why did you run out of the cave?" asked Toad. The group quickly questioned the duo's sanity, then left for the volcano.

"Ha ha!" snickered Wario "Chuck Brown is scared of a tiny puff ball!" Chuck Quizmo was reaching for his gun, but was stopped before anyone noticed.

10 hours into the trip, no sign of Neil. The group decided to sleep right at the edge of the jungle for the night, and spend the next day in the volcanic region. The night was an endless one, each of the 9 knowing they'd have to slay a dragon in a day or so. Eventually, the panic knocked each and every one of them out, and refreshed for the next morning. The group of 9 all officially crossed the line to the volcanic region, to be met by the strange tiki again.

"YOU!" screamed Wario. "I believe we have some business to attend to" Wario reached for his pocket knife, only to not find it.

"I took it from you last night so you wouldn't use it rashly" said Kelvin "Unfortunatley, I am much better at fighting with shurikens and my bare fists. I'll give it back to you once we get to the dragon."

Wario was now in rage. "WHAT ARE YOU? SOME KIND OF NINJA?"

Before Kelvin could answer, the tiki spoke. "SILENCE!" it bellowed. "Welcome to the volcanic region of Syntarr. It is here where I must tell you this. One of your kind is disloyal!" This was news to Luigi and Chuck Quizmo, but the rest had their suspicions. "In order to reach the dragon, you must take the red path. Do not take the blue or purple path, or you will probably meet certain death."

This confused Mario. "How can you probably meet certain death? It's either you do or you don't!"

The tiki ignored Marrio, and continued. "Remember, the RED path! The dragon will not expect you. Take him by surprise!" And with that, the tiki went back underground.

"How are we going to kill the dragon?" asked Chuck Quizmo. "We have no weapons! I would presume a switchblade useless on something so gargantuan."

Wario, up to his usual jokes, made a suggestion. "We can get the ninja guy to shriek the dragon to death! Honestly, how did you get your voice so high?" This time, Kelvin went for the switchblade, but was stopped before he could attack Wario.

"If you do not stop making fun of me," said a rather calm Kelvin, "Your switchblade will be fed to the lava!" Wario grumbled and kept his mouth shut.

"By the way, where do you think the blue and purple paths lead to?" asked Mario. Of course, no one in the group knew, and no one wanted to know. They decided to take the tiki's advice and just follow the red path. The problem was, a giant gap separated them from the paths, and a pot of lava was ready to cook anyone who made contact with it. A bridge had to be made. Kelvin, the man who can build anything from anything, was already on the go. He instructed everyone how to build it, and in no time, a bridge was made.

"OK, everyone" said a rather proud Kelvin, "One at a time! This bridge isn't the London Bridge, y'know." The group was rather confident about their bridge, then, as they all remember the London Bridge falling down. "I mean," Kelvin said, "The Washington Bridge!" The group finally got it, and Mario was the first to walk it.

"This is a pretty sturdy bridge, guys! I think we'll all make it! Were actually gonna reach the….WAUGH!" His sentence was cut short by a cut bridge. It snapped right behind him, and he flew right under his goal. Donkey never had a good grip, and bridge just happened to be very slippery. And down he went. Falling, falling, falling into the pit.


	5. What Goes Up

Chapter 5

It seemed like a sure-fire end fire end for Mario, with him falling into the lava. He was almost in the danger zone, when a platform materialized right before his very eyes! Now, the platform was hot, but at least he was pert of the lava soup. Another miracle was a geyser shot out of the ground and brought him up to the paths.

"How did that happen?" yelled Mario to the rest of them. Toad was the hero of the moment.

"I just threw this pot of water into the lava, like you do in all of those video games! I didn't think it would work, but apparently, this is cold for lava!" Mario didn't know what video game he was talking about, and what "cold lava" was, but at least he's safe.

Mario waited for the others as they jumped down and fell on what they hoped to be platforms. It wasn't until Wario jumped across that people realized the platforms could only last so long. He jumped right before the first platform vanished. Several close calls later, and everyone was at the path area.

"That tiki was probably just messing with us" said Waluigi. "How about we make groups and each group goes down a path?" People were starting to form groups, but realized that they could possibly be teamed up with "the untrustworthy one", and nixed the idea. On top of that, two signs appeared on top of the blue and purple paths reading, "You will probably meet certain death if you cross this before slaying the dragon". The process was double nixed.

"So," said Wario. "We're gonna climb this giant volcano FROM THE INSIDE without any gear. We truly are geniuses, aren't we?" To his surprise, at the end of the red path, there were 4 sets of gear and a giant wall. Kelvin, of course was the first to make a plan.

"There are four sets of gear, and 8 of us," he announced. "There is a long rope in the pack, so I'm guessing we all have to work in teams of two. Pick a partner and attach yourself to him. Then, take out everything needed for climbing in the pack. The bottle of water should not be used until after we are done climbing!" The partners were picked. Kooper and Toad, Waluigi and Wario (Waluigi ran out of choices, and had to agree), Chuck Quizmo and Luigi, with the last being Mario and Kelvin.

"OK, Kooper, It's my turn now." Said Toad. He then took the lead and let Kooper take a short break. It's been like this since they first climbed, but neither of them took to the account that they would have to carry one another. This was fine for Kooper, as Toad did not weigh much, but it was torture for Toad, who had to carry the heaviest person on the island (185 lbs).

"Hey, Kooper" groaned Toad, "You know I'm getting very tired, and carrying you around is gonna make me fall off. Mind if you help me just a little bit?" Kooper, being kind in nature, put his pikes into the wall to help Toad. "Kooper, I think this is the start of what can be a great friendship!" Kooper couldn't agree more.

"C'mon, you punk! Can't you climb any faster?" Wario, being second in athletics in the group (only losing to Kelvin), was nearly carrying Waluigi up the wall, and he didn't look tired one bit.

"Can we take a short break? I'm gonna slip!" Wario thought about this for a while, and decided a break couldn't be too bad. "This is probably the only nice thing you've ever done on this island. Why did you take a break?" questioned Waluigi. "If you did this more, I'm sure the rest would like you." Wario was reluctant to answer. Walugi gave up trying to question him and started to climb.

"You know, I can let go of my pegs right now and just give up. I'm dying of fatigue. I don't give up, because I'm not weak. Maybe you should try to be stronger, too." Amazed by his words of wisdom, Waluigi kept climbing. Maybe he was wrong about Wario. There has to be a good side to everyone, right?

--  
"OK, on three, start swinging. One, two, THREE!" This was Quizmo's sign to Luigi that he was ready. They thought that instead of climbing, the one on the bottom would start swinging. When the bottom one gained enough momentum, the one on top would pull out the peg and swing a far distance up. It seemed to be working, as they were almost there. This time, though, when Luigi pulled out the peg and flew upwards, neither of them remembered to put the peg back in, and started falling. They were both too dizzy to put their peg in the wall, and were falling at an incredible velocity. They were almost halfway down the wall when they stopped.

"Whoa," said Luigi. "Why did we stop?" Kelvin, with amazing reflexes, grabbed Chuck Quizmo as they were falling.

"How did you grab me so fast?" questioned an amazed Chuck.

"It takes practice." Kelvin simply replied. "Now, continue climbing." The two learned from their mistakes and climbed normally. It was a new lesson for the two. Was the fastest and boldest the best?

--  
Mario and Kelvin were the last pair to climb up the volcanic slope, as they were monitoring everyone else's progress. They started up the mountain at a fairly fast pace, but then slowed down half-way up due to Mario's fatigue. Once he regained his breathe, they started off again, and proceeded to the top with meteoric momentum.

They were at what they thought was the top of the volcano, only to notice that they had to walk up a spiral bridge-like pathway to reach the actual rim of the volcano. So the islanders walked for what seemed like hours, but in all actuality was about twelve minutes.

Upon reaching the top, the islanders heard a thunderous roar coming from the lava in the center…the cooking pot. They stood there, ready to face the mighty beast. Another violent rumble shook the islanders, and sparked a landslide, which collapsed the bridge-like pathway they had used to reach the top. There was no turning back now.

The lava started to boil. A small elevated mound could be seen rising out of the center. The islanders thought this was just a bubble, until it continued to rise, growing from a small mound to a colossal bulge. It rose up to 300+ feet before it stopped. The lava slowly washed off, revealing an enormous dragon. It then let out a blistering roar and shook itself violently, launching lava at the islanders. It glared at the islanders with two, intense, deadly eyes. It turned towards the islanders, setting its eyes directly upon Luigi.

I know I ended the last chapter with MARIO about to die, but just wait for the next chapter. It might reveal a bit about someone's character. Actually, I have next chapter written up already. It's gonna be big.


	6. I do not understand that sentence

This is the last chapter I've actually co-written and have saved on my computer The rest………I'm writing solo

This is the last chapter I've actually co-written and have saved on my computer The rest………I'm writing solo. Wish me luck!

Chapter 7

It was hot. I was uncomfortable. It was wet, but Luigi was alive. He grimaced at all the skulls and rib cages stuck in the dragon's throat, and continued on downwards. Pretty soon, he reached the stomach. As guessed, there was lava, and lots of it. He knew what to do. He could win this. He knew it.

The others, unfortunately, had no clue as to what was happening inside the dragon. The dragon itself had just awoken, and was steaming (no pun). That is, until, he felt blue (literally). The dragon fell down, showing a pale blue color. Now was the time to attack. Wario's switchblade flew out of the dragon's mouth, with Wario catching it. Off he went, happy to finally receive his blade back. He jumped on the snout of the dragon, and slashed the third eye like crazy. At the same time, it appeared the dragon's nostrils were clogged in the inside. This was the end of it. He started to fall into the fire.

"My god, Luigi's still in there!" yelled Chuck Quizmo. Now people started caring. He helped out the cause. How could they leave him behind?

Luigi felt like the dragon was falling, and he was correct. He quickly ran out of the mouth, and jumped into open hands. Too bad those hands were about 2 feet away from him. There he was, falling. Again. He wasn't afraid, however. He knew Kelvin would come down for him. Would he?

"OK, everybody ready?" asks Kelvin. The group was tied together, as they prepared to jump the edge. The weight of them all allowed them to catch up to Luigi, and they once again ended up at the base of the volcano. The group took a nap. All slept except for Kelvin and Luigi, who was quite shaken from all the events.

"I ask you again, how do you do that How did we NOT fall to our deaths?" asked Luigi.

"I can ask you the SAME exact question!" replied Kelvin, "How did you know how to survive in a dragon's stomach? Perhaps there's something you want to tell me?" Luigi stayed quiet for the remainder of nap time. Pretty soon, the rest were awake. The trip back was uneventful, and only took half a day for some reason. It appeared that time didn't pass in the volcano.

"Finally!" said Mario, "We can live here without worrying about the flames!" Kelvin reminded Mario that they don't want to live here, but escape. "Oh yeah, I forgot." He said sheepishly.

Toad stood up and said, "OK. We need to find this Treasure of Syntarr. I suggest that Luigi and Chuck go out to find something helpful. They know the whole place like the back of their hands!" The group couldn't argue with those facts, but of course, Wario had a problem.

"Hey, brainiac!" he retorted, "What about the monsters coming out of the forest? What do we do then? There's no where to go!"

Toad though for a while, but before he could say anything, Waluigi contributed. "We build a defense system. If anything comes to this beach and breaks a wire we set up, we send pongees out on their knees. Trust me, they are very easy to build." So it was settled. Luigi and Quizmo went off to look for the Treasure while the rest make a comfortable base camp.

"Say, Luigi," said Chuck, "If we're out here, we can look for the…" Luigi silenced him before he could continue.

"Yes, we will look for it. It was past all the fire, so we shall be in new grounds." They were pleased to find that it was incredibly easy to traverse through the jungle. They immediately saw where the forest fires occurred, and crossed it in 2 hours flat. The new part of the jungle was radically different. It was actually a forest, in which deer, turkey, and strange beast lived.

"This place is great!" remarked Chuck, "No predators or anything! Perhaps we should move the group?" Luigi answered with silence. Chuck knew that this was to be their secret temporarily.

Hours of failed searching went by, they searched the east, west, and center of it, but nothing. To the north they went, and lo and behold, something!

"This is out of place…." said Chuck Quizmo. "It's like a Wasteland in the middle of the forest! It seems that we can't reach it, though. There's these jagged rocks! Shame, really. It might have the……yeah, shouldn't say what we're looking for out loud, right?

Luigi saw this as strange, and finally remarked, "This is where the purple path leads to. See the Fire Zone right near the other edge of the Wasteland? How about we make a map of everywhere on the island we know. There's the beach, the jungle/forest, the Fire Zone, and now this new Wasteland. We'll traverse the Wasteland later. I trust the tiki now. He said we can cross wheen we kill the dragon." Either way, they could not go into the Wasteland. They didn't find their……….primary target. Perhaps south will lead to it?

"Think the pongees are good enough, Kelvin?" asked Waluigi. Kelvin was impressed.

"How do you make them so well?" asked Kelvin.

"I am a veteran of The War. I was sent there at 18, and had to live off what I had. Pongees make a great defense Either way, I am still kind of touchy about that subject. Let's not talk about it," replied Waluigi. Meanwhile, the other islanders were enjoying the freedom from the raining inferno. No longer did they need to live in fear of a flaming storm. With Chuck Quizmo and Luigi looking for the treasure, the islanders could just relax. They headed back to the beach to find out that their existing campground had been singed to nothingness by the descending flames. They set up a temporary new campground.

"Alright," started Kelvin, "We must designate task-bearers. Mario and Kooper will search for food within a mile radius of our camp. Wario and Waluigi, bring us firewood. Luigi and Quizmo are long-range. If we're lucky they already found the Treasure. As for Toad, stay with me here and help set up camp." The islanders did as they were told. When the other islanders left, SSJ3 said, "There is some information that I can only trust with. I have an interesting offer for you."

Mario and Kooper journeyed into the local woods to look for food for the islanders. Looking around, it seemed that all of the food had been eaten by the wildlife. But then, Kooper spotted some fruit towards the tops of the trees.

"Look, Mario! Food!" exclaimed Kooper. The two climbed the trees and claimed the fruit. "How can we tell if it is edible?" asked Kooper. But, to his surprise, Mario had already devoured two of the fruit already in ravenous hunger.

"Not only are the EDIBLE, but they are DELICIOUS!" replied Mario with immense happiness. Kooper laughed and they picked the rest of the fruit. After they had everything, they headed back to the campground. "That was too easy," stated Mario.

Wario and Waluigi set out to find firewood. Waluigi tried to make conversation with Wario.

"So…why do you have such a negative outlook on life?" he asked. Wario glared at Waluigi with such a furious intensity, the sun would cower in fear.

"Listen, you worthless piece of crap. Don't you ever…EVER…judge my outlook on ANYTHING...EVER AGAIN," replied Wario. Waluigi felt as if he was going to cry. Wario continued his viscous onslaught of insults by saying, "You know, why couldn't I have had Kelvin as a partner? He has a world's worth of more experience than you. You are nothing but a setback. You do NOTHING right!" Waluigi was so upset by these words that he broke down into tears.

"You…Ungrateful…" he started, but didn't finish. Instead, he caught Wario with a nasty uppercut right at the jaw and dashed back to camp in tears.

Kelvin and Toad were sitting by the beach discussing private matters when Waluigi came bolting through the trees, tripping over the remnants of the old campfire, and faceplanting into the ground.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" asked Toad in a more serious tone than he usually sounded.

"I hate Wario. He could just die for all I care," sobbed Waluigi. He was inconsolable.

Kelvin turned to Toad and whispered, "We'll continue our conversation later." Turning to Waluigi, he asked what had happened. Waluigi explained to him about Wario's ruthless remarks, while the two tried to comfort him. After awhile of consoling, Waluigi sniffled a polite, "Thanks, guys," and headed back out into the woods.

"Now that sissy boy is gone, can we continue discussing the terms of our little…deal?" cackled Toad.

"Certainly," replied SSJ3 with a sinister snicker.


End file.
